PNC Arena may as well just hang a sign on the front entrance: New York Rangers fans are not welcomed.
In an attempt to keep Rangers fans out of the Carolina Hurricanes’ home rink, the team is limiting the sale of tickets to those who live in the North Carolina area for their second-round series with the Blue Shirts. That means those people with billing addresses in North Carolina/South Carolina and Southern Virginia are the only ones able to buy tickets for Game 1, Game 2, Game 5 or Game 7 at PNC Arena.
“Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside North Carolina/South Carolina and Southern Virginia will be canceled without notice and refunds given,” read a disclaimer on the Ticketmaster website.
There did not appear to be any restrictions on tickets being sold on secondary market ticket providers Stubhub or SeatGeek for Game 1 on Wednesday night. It also appeared that tickets were readily available for purchase for Game 1 on all three sites just a day before the series was set to begin in Raleigh.
Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller didn’t expect the restrictions to prevent New York fans from supporting the team while they were on the road.
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“I mean we’ve seen it all year, there’s going to be Rangers fans everywhere,” Miller said. “This organization does an unbelievable job of just promoting our players and just having our backs at all times. I think if they’re there or not we’re still going to hear them. They’re still going to be in our thoughts and we’re just still going to try to do good for them.”
This isn’t a new tactic by professional sports teams to keep their buildings to just their own fans. The Los Angeles Rams used a similar trick to prevent San Francisco 49ers fans from getting into the NFC Championship game and the Tampa Bay Lightning also limited playoff ticket sales to those who lived in Florida in 2015.
